The invention disclosed therein has applicability to the renting, leasing and/or loaning, etc. of electronic equipment, such as a washing machine, office equipment, industrial or medical equipment, vending or article dispensing equipment, and many other types of equipment operable and/or controllable by a computer, wherein the one entity wishes to have some control over another entity that has physical possession and/or control of the equipment.
The invention is especially useful for such equipment where one entity has an interest in controlling, in conjunction with at least one other interested entity, the usage of an equipment which is in the physical control and/or possession, custody etc. of a second entity.
Although detailed examples of the present invention will be described below in the environment of improvements in apparatus and methods involving the vending of goods from a vending apparatus, as noted above, and will be noted at places below, the invention is applicable more broadly to equipment control between various parties interested in the equipment.
Conventional vending machines are sized to fit into a space measuring about 4′×4′×6′. These vending machines typically include a storage area in which various goods are located and a dispensing means to move the goods from the storage area to an exit port. When a user of the vending machine (i.e., a purchaser of goods) wishes to purchase goods, he or she inserts money into the vending machine and is given an opportunity to select a particular item from the plurality of goods stored within the vending machine. Sometimes this selection process involves the user viewing the goods within the storage area of the vending machine by way of some transparent window or the like. Alternatively, some vending machines do not permit the user to view the goods stored within the machine, the selectable goods being understood by way of visible indicia on the exterior of the vending machine (e.g., branding indicia, advertising indicia, etc.) in association with selection indicia and/or means. In either case, the user usually enters his or her selection by way of a keypad, selection buttons, etc. In response to the user's selection, the dispensing means of the vending machine moves the selected goods from the storage area to the exit port of the vending machine such that the user may obtain the goods.
The above discussion relates to how a user obtains goods from a conventional vending machine. The purchase, installation, and maintenance of a conventional vending machine and the distribution of revenue from that vending machine will now be discussed. Using conventional techniques, an operator of a vending machine purchases the vending machine from a manufacturer of vending machines. The operator may obtain a loan from a third party (e.g., a bank) using the vending machine to collateralize the loan. In the alternative, the operator can lease the vending machine from a lessor of capital equipment for some agreed upon price schedule (usually involving payment on a monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc. basis).
Irrespective of how the vending machine is purchased or leased, the operator takes possession of the vending machine and installs the vending machine at a particular location, for example, within a business office, at a gas station, at an airport, at a tavern, etc. Placing the vending machine at the particular location may require that the operator enter into an agreement with the owner of the real property (or his or her representative) on which the vending machine is disposed. (Of course, when the operator owns the property on which the vending machine is located, no separate agreement need be obtained.) Typically, the agreement between the operator and the owner of the real property requires the operator to make periodic payments to the owner of the real property, for example, on a monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc. basis.
The operator is typically responsible for maintaining the vending machine after it is installed. This maintenance typically includes the purchasing of goods from a seller of goods, stocking the vending machine with the goods, and collecting revenue from the vending machine. The seller of goods is typically a goods manufacturer or distributor, for example, a food and/or beverage company, a candy company, and ice cream company, etc. The operator usually enters into an agreement with the seller of goods that dictates the quantity and price of the goods that the operator may purchase from the seller of goods. The agreement may also prescribe other factors, such as how the goods are displayed within the vending machine (e.g., when the vending machine includes a transparent window through which the purchaser may view the goods). It is noted that the operator may enter into agreements with a plurality of sellers of goods to obtain stock for a given vending machine such that different types and/or brands of goods may be stocked in a given vending machine.
As mentioned above, the operator typically collects revenue from the vending machine (i.e., the money deposited in the vending machine by purchasers of goods). This is usually done at the time that the vending machine is stocked with goods, such as on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. basis. The operator typically uses portions of the revenue to pay the manufacturer of vending machines, the lessor of capital equipment, the bank (e.g., for the purchase of the vending machine), the owner of the real property on which the vending machine is disposed (e.g., for rental of the real property), and/or the seller of goods (e.g., for purchasing previous or future goods to stock the vending machine).
While the conventional uses of vending machines and conventional business relationships among the entities involved directly or indirectly in the vending of goods from vending machines have been readily employed in the past, they are woefully inadequate in meeting future objectives for vending goods. For example, it would be desirable to permit an entity, other than the operator, to share in the risks and rewards (i.e., the losses and profits) of vending goods from a vending machine. Conventional vending machines and conventional business relationships, however, are ill equipped to achieve this result, primarily due to the inherent problems in verifying sales data and enforcing contractual obligations involving the vending of goods. Indeed, a seller of goods would not be motivated to enter into an agreement with an operator to share in the risks and rewards of vending its goods from a vending machine if it is difficult for the seller of goods to verify the sales data of the vending machine and/or enforce the obligations of any agreement governing such a relationship. Since the operator has virtually exclusive control over the vending machine, particularly in terms of stocking goods and collecting revenue, any share of the risks and rewards from vending goods are subject to the honesty and integrity of the operator. While it would be unfair to suggest that all operators are untrustworthy, it has been discovered that, as a practical matter, other entities have been unwilling to enter into agreements to share in the risks and rewards of goods vending with operators due to concerns of data verification and enforcement.
Efforts have been made in the vending art to make data concerning the sales of goods from a vending machine available to interested parties. The so-called Direct Data Exchange (DEX) format of vending data reporting purports to provide a means for obtaining sales information, such as type of goods, brand of goods, package type, weight, price, etc. Members of the National Automatic Merchandizing Association (NAMA) and others, however, understand that the DEX format has not been standardized and, therefore, is of marginal use as a tool in obtaining useful vending data from the field. Moreover, the accuracy of the DEX information is subject to the data collection and reporting processes of the operator. Indeed, an unscrupulous operator could easily tamper with, forge, or otherwise modify vending data obtained at a particular vending machine and arrange the data in the DEX format in an effort to legitimize the data to his or her advantage and, consequently, to the disadvantage of other parties that may be seeking to rely on the DEX data.
Accordingly, there is a need in the vending art for apparatus and methods that will facilitate agreements among entities with interests in vending goods, in addition to the operator, to share in the risks and rewards of vending. Indeed, distributing the risks associated with purchasing, installing, stocking, and selling goods through a vending machine among two or more entities will encourage people heretofore not willing to participate in the vending of goods and, therefore, expand the marketplace and ultimately provide better service to consumers.